Along with Leonard Cohen, I share birthdays with Stephen King. His ON WRITING offered some fuel during these past months of revisions.

This sentiment matched my own for most of the summer. Then finally, on Thursday the 17th, a BREAKTHROUGH.
(it may or may not involve smithereens.) HABIBI‘s undergone four drafts: 1) The spontaneous sketchbook-bound version from december 2004.
2) The first draft presented to my publisher in july 2005. 3) My overwrought second draft “completed” september 2006, AND 4) micro-scribbles
that unveiled the ending to me just a few days ago. In the same time of rewrites, my rib(s) healed. Today’s my birthday, and I’m going surfing.

Thank you, blog-reader-friends, for the constant support! And thank you to those who have sent snail mail. I apologize that I almost never
get around to replying. Each of these deserve a personal response, but I’m lousy enough corresponding with family & friends. Hopefully it’s
reassuring that I read each of them and cherish them. Michael asked about getting his GUARDIAN ANGEL poster signed, and I need to decline,
but I would love to personalize that for you at a future signing. And Neil informed me that he’d like to collaborate on another poster soon.

In other news, I spent the summer physically incapacitated. Fractured rib(s) after being struck with a surfboard, and three weeks of NASTY
sickness from inhaling mold (not recreationally). No lumberjack photos this year! And here’s a shot of my dear brother Phil enjoying our
childhood comics stash. Who remembers “CYBORG GERBILS”? Also a 3-D comic drawn by Phil as a wee lad. We made lots of these as tikes,
though most of mine were destroyed in that ol’ burn-barrel session.

This recent email from my friend Allison was too bizarre and well-worded not to share with the rest of you.
“Today I had a strange experience in a creepy used bookstore. I was walking past the sci-fi/fantasy section,
and from the piles of unsorted books on the floor, a familiar blue color caught my eye.

I left the book in the store, but not before I re-shelved it next to Nutritional Healing.
Just as I am doing with the universe, I will return in a week to see if it has righted itself.”

Fresh home from my midwest excursion. BIG THANKS to the librarians that made it to the panel and are fueling support for
graphic novels in the literary world, not to mention fighting on the frontlines of public confusion over the medium.

I’m restless to dig into work on the final chapters of HABIBI. In the meantime, here’s some treats I excavated from the ol’ cubby hole at my
parents’ house. Above: Congressman Dave Obey and Tom Cruise (yes) presenting an award to 16 year old me for a national high school art
competition. Below: decaying childhood art (approx. age 9) and a photo of my brother Phil and I with matching bowl haircuts.

It might be old news to those in the industry, but I wanted to acknowledge the great loss of NICKELODEON magazine, especially the
COMIC BOOK insert. It was one of this generation’s best forums for cartoonists – publishing everyone from Laura Park to Art Spiegelman!
- and providing them with a living wage (though Art was probably doing fine on his own).
I’m greatly indebted to editors Chris Duffy and Dave Roman for being great bosses and pals, for financially fueling the production of both
CHUNKY RICE and BLANKETS, and for indoctrinating the youth into the medium of comics.
Plus they let me get away with bizarre and tasteless strips like this CARTOONIGAMI strip above. (published eight years ago!)
CARTOONIGAMI is sort of like a MAD FOLD-IN, only I stole the idea from Lewis Trondheim and his OuBaPo experimentations
– a comic strip which, when folded, transforms into two entirely different gags.

As Jordi noted, it’s been exactly a month since an update! Guess it takes some time to get back on track after any comics show.
And now I’m leaving in a week for another festival – this time in Beja, Portugal. I’ll be signing and/or presenting on the weekend
of May 30th & 31st and have 31 original pages in their exhibition. If you live near Lisbon, hope to see you!
LW asked if I’ll be at MoCCA … unfortunately no. After these couple of comics shows, I gotta get back to focusing exclusively on the book.
Though I will be at an American Library Association’s Annual Conference in Chicago on July 13th.
Below is a simple panel in progress from today’s page. I’m still guarded about revealing Habibi spoilers, but I can say we’re in the 470s now!

Poppy asked that I respond to a few of the blog comments, so here goes. Kristi A., definitely feel free to weave some of my work
in your final project. (In general, I’m cool for people to appropriate my drawings in such ways, as long as it’s not for profit.)
Ahnmin, thanks for the poem! Avri, very cool Dandel sculpture (as seen below, along with an Oregon waterfall).

And some TOOL questions. Alex Holden, I don’t print my pencils as blue lines. Rather, I ink right on top of the pencils, so the pencils are
only preserved when I scan them for this blog. (Also thanks for sending your MAGIC HOUR minis.) Brandon, as far as I know you can’t find
Pentel pocketbrush pens or refills in Portland. Best to order online. Jess Smart Smiley, the floor scraps are definitely part of the process.

Hope some of this babble is useful… Thank you always for your comments and support!

First off, thank you all for the outpouring of comments with that last post.
You’re like the ray of new spring sun that spilled onto the drawing table this morning…

For those of you in Portland welcoming the end of the brutal winter rains, I’ll be participating in a number of events
revolving around STUMPTOWN COMICS FESTIVAL (full schedule here).

1) An art show at the Portland Center for Contemporary Arts. Included are a page from CHUNKY RICE,
a page from BLANKETS, and a page from HABIBI (first ever on display). Up all of April. 1111 SW Broadway

2) A Comic Book Legal Defense Fund benefit dinner at PCPA on Friday, April 17th at 5:30.
$100 gets you an intimate eating experience with myself, Jeff Smith, Gail Simone, Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Wagner,
Farel Dalrymple, Derek Kirk Kim, Mike Dringenberg, and Mayor Sam Adams (who will declare April the month of comics in Portland.)
Kinda schmancy and expensive, but all proceeds go to a good cause. Ticket details here.

3) Sunday the 19th, I’ll be signing at the actual festival. Plus at 1pm in the “Alaska” room, writer Douglas Wolk (READING COMICS) will be moderating
an interview with me. Also Q&A with the audience. But if there’s things you wanna see/hear, feel free to let me know on the blog.

(final image there is from the Stumptown poster drawn by Farel Dalrymple)

Photos by my buddy Alessandro Q. Ferrari

Just a quick note to say that COMICS TOOLS BLOG interviewed me – along with Erika Moen, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and Hope Larson -
about brush techniques. Worth checking out if you’re curious about process. Or compare notes with my previous TOOL TALK posting.
For the record, with today’s page of HABIBI, I’m back on the Raphael 8404s!

Thanks as always for your outpouring of encouragement. Very motivating to return from vacation to so many comments!
As Kurt mentioned, there are still four more chapters to go, but the book is two/thirds finished, and now I’ve the energy to dive back into it.
In Oahu, I visited my French friends Laëtitia & Frédéric & their kids Samuel, Koupaïa & Alanis. You may remember them from CARNET DE VOYAGE.
Alanis is a new edition. And they’re currently living in the the non-continental United States.
Of all the activities I engaged in – surfing at Threes in Waikiki, bodyboarding at Makapu’u, snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, kayaking in Kaneohe Bay,
my favorite was a North Shore shark cage.
Fortunately, Frédéric had along an underwater camera to document these beautiful & haunting Galapagos Sharks.